Easy plants for your containers

Last year, I wrote my container garden tutorial, but I neglected to post the information about easy plants for your containers. Let’s remedy that, shall we?

Consider this my Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day post. Carol Michel hosts GBBD each month on the 15th at May Dreams Gardens.

Tropical plants are the easiest ones to grow in summer containers.

Tropical plants are the easiest plants to grow in containers in Oklahoma and other hot places. You can also grow perennials and shrubs, but tropical plants are more forgiving than others. In fact, tropical plants are a summer garden’s best friend.

Here are a few I try to use each year in my containers.

Centerpiece or “thriller” plants

• Elephant ears. Elephant ears are wonderful shade plants, and there are now some varieties that can also handle some sun. I would still grow them on the east side of the house because they appreciate afternoon shade. Elephant ears make a great centerpiece or “thriller” plant. Look for Dr. Cho varieties with Hawaiian names, and if you’d like to read more about them, here’s how elephant ears make my summer garden shine.

• Cannas. In Oklahoma, most cannas are subtropical and will overwinter in the ground, but they don’t in containers, at least not in my garden. They do grow large and majestic unless the grasshoppers eat them.
• Banana trees. Like cannas, banana trees make a great vertical element in a container. Our wind is hard on them until it settles down in summer though.

• Foxtail ferns. These plants love the sun and will fill a smaller container. They look great with almost anything you’d like to grow. Just know they are bullies and hard to get out of the pot next spring.

• Ornamental grasses. Pennisetum (fountain) grasses love growing in a full sun container. My favorite is ‘Fireworks’ purple fountain grass, but if you can’t find it, the regular purple fountain grass will do. Perennial switchgrasses are great thriller plants too.

Fringe or “filler” plants

• Coleus. This little plant became a real game changer when sun-tolerant varieties arrived. Before hybridizers figured out sun tolerance, coleus could only be grown in the shade. Everyone knows I’m crazy about coleus. Talk about easy plants for your containers. Even when nothing is blooming, fanciful coleus leaves steal the garden show. They make great “filler’ plants around your centerpiece or “thriller” plants.

• Petunias, nontrailing type. Trailing petunias make great spiller plants. Petunias will sometimes poop out once hot weather becomes the norm, but varieties that don’t have to be deadheaded seem to last longer because they aren’t trying to produce seeds. Petunias, especially in hot colors attract hummingbirds.

• Cape plumbago or tropical blue plumbago. What’s there to say? It’s the most fantastic shade of blue, and it’s not used as much as it should be.

• Pentas. They look great at the front of the pot, and they attract butterflies.
• Nemesia. I’ve recently been adding nemesia as a filler plant. It doesn’t always make it through the hottest part of summer, but other things take over instead.

Trailing or “spiller” plants

• Petunias. Some varieties can’t handle our heat, but I still plant them for my husband, Bill. If you cut them back and fertilize them when they get leggy, they will often put on a second flower flush. Wave or Supertunia Vista petunias are nice to trail down the sides of a pot. If you love blue pots, hot pink and magenta petunias look fabulous against the blue.

• Calibrochoa. These plants look like small petunias with loads of flowers. That’s why one group is trademarked Million Bells.
• Lantana. I am so glad we have lantana in so many colors. It meanders through other plants and is a pollinator magnet.
• Scaevola or fan flower. One of the best trailers to use in a sunny location.
• Creeping Jenny ‘Aurea.’ Another great trailing plant that will grow equally in sun or shade.
• Wire vine. It’s both a fantastic filler and a spiller. It can handle the hottest sun and some shade.

• Variegated Swedish ivy. I like the green and chartreuse and the green and white ones. Both look great spilling out of containers.

• Dichondra ‘Silver Falls.’ It is beautiful in a sunny container. It also makes a wonderful ground cover, but just remember it won’t return after winter.

Although this list isn’t exhaustive, these are all easy container plants you can grow.

How to water.

Use drip irrigation with a timer, or my favorite hose-end sprayer, Dramm’s Touch-N-Flow Rain Wand, to help your containers thrive.

Potting soil

During garden coaching sessions, I’m asked many questions about potting soil. Because I have Alpha-gal syndrome, I’m not able to use organic potting mixes anymore. The manure, bone, and blood meal in these mixes make me ill because these ingredients are from mammals.

However, I still love Happy Frog and Black Gold potting mixes. I use Black Gold’s regular mix now in all my containers.

Tick protection to protect against Alpha-gal syndrome.

If you live in an area with ticks, I would again encourage you to get permethrin clothing from Insect Shield, or they can treat your clothing, which is less expensive. To save 15%, use my referral code DEENASHRDR.

I wear permethrin-treated socks, leggings, and a shirt. I also wear boots, or my permethrin-sprayed shoes. If I avoid more tick bites, my symptoms may lessen over time. I’m also now working with an advocacy group, the Alpha-gal Alliance Action Fund.

Here’s to happy containers this summer. I hope your containers shine. Please comment and let me know your favorite easy plants for containers. I’d love to hear your thoughts.